fundraising

Recent philanthropy news seems to have revealed a trend. Musicians, and Nashville residents, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill organized a benefit concert, which has raised about $2 million for Nashville flood relief. Artist Damien Hirst rallied 98 of his colleagues to produce an art auction that raised $38 million for the (RED) campaign's efforts to fight AIDS in Africa. Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and New York Knicks player Tracy "T-Mac" McGrady are leaning on NBA players to raise funds to build schools for Darfuri refugee camps through the Darfur Dream Team.

It seems obvious to have artists paint, to have musicians sing and to have NBA players call on their teammates in support of a cause - but what your supporters have in common with these fundraising celebrities is that they too can and should be leveraged in a way that makes the most of their skills and network. Unfortunately, more often than not nonprofits fail to ask their partners to do what makes the most sense.

Unique Skills...
Instead of looking at the skills and extended networks their existing advocates have to offer, they ask lawyers to paint murals and they ask teachers to stuff envelopes. Yes, all of these activities may move the ball forward bit by bit. The nonprofit needs the mural painted and the envelopes stuffed, and the lawyer and the teacher may even have had fun working on those projects. But they aren't the most strategic asks that could be made of these supporters - people who could probably contribute much more value and have a more fulfilling volunteer experience if they were asked to do something more in line with their skill set and interests. The Taproot Foundation is great at matching volunteers' professional skills with projects that nonprofits badly need. While not every nonprofit is ready for a large-scale project like a Taproot grant, this principle can be applied to how they engage their networks every day.

And Unique Networks...
If there's not a task or project that matches the skills of the supporters you have, you can also be strategic about leveraging their networks in appropriate ways. While you might not have the star power available that some of these multi-million dollar campaigns tapped into, your supporters can be surprisingly influential in their networks - whether that be a sorority, a rec league softball team, a book club or a network of bloggers. Everyone has a group of people they can turn to and say (as Damien Hirst said to his artist friends) "If you do this for me, some day, when you need to call on me, I will reciprocate for you."

And That Goes for Social Media Too...
Now that nonprofits are convinced of the power of social media to fundraise and friend raise, we are going overboard at times by asking even social media resistant supporters to join certain platforms SO they can support us through those platforms. You don't need to bring all your supporters to Facebook so they can "like" your organization, join your cause and start receiving your Facebook messages. That would be like asking your supporters to become pastry chefs so you can have a great bake sale. It's a good idea for nonprofits to create a presence on social media because that's where many of their supporters already spend time and have access to a network, but it's an even better idea to be strategic about how they invest their time on social media.

While it's true that social citizens might be the perfect supporters to champion your cause online, Millennials (and other generations) have other creative ideas, talents and networks that shouldn't be overlooked or undervalued. For more tips on engaging Millennial volunteers, see Kari's recent post. At the end of the day, the real goal is to empower volunteers and supporters where they already have a presence and expertise, whether that's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or (gasp) not online at all.

Over the last couple of years, Facebook users have gone through the love-hate relationship cycle with the social media platform as its privacy settings have continued to change crumble, but the options have been limited to either sucking it up or closing your account and missing out on all the benefits of Facebook - an option now being explored by so many people that if you type in "how do I" in Google, the first autofill that pops up is "...delete my Facebook account." I should say those were the only options until now. 

Four NYU students and self-proclaimed nerds decided to take matters into their own hands and build a new social network. They're calling it Diaspora. Others are calling it the anti-Facebook. New social networking sites and platforms are cropping up all the time, but this one may be just as significant for what it is as for HOW it’s being built. The team of four 19 to 22-year-olds began fundraising on Kickstarter in late April so they could spend their summer creating Diaspora. They blew past their fundraising goal of $10,000 in less than two weeks, and now, just shy of three weeks, they are rolling past $130,000 from more than 3,500 people – and rising all the time.

It's any nonprofit or cause-champion’s dream to capture that kind of support from their networks, so what can we learn from Diaspora?

1. Pursue a cause people are dying to support.
   If you have to spend a lot of time explaining to potential supporters why your project is necessary, you may need to rethink your project. It wasn’t difficult for these guys to rally people behind their privacy battle cry because they’re meeting a need in their community. When you can address a problem people already recognize, they'll jump in to help you succeed.
    
2. Offer measurable results.
   At the end of the summer, the team promises their software will be released, and it will be free. Plain and simple. Not all nonprofit projects can offer such concrete outcomes, especially when the problems you’re addressing are mammoths like world peace, poverty or cancer, but whatever your cause, it’s important to be able to tell people what you will do and then to demonstrate whether or not you have done it. Creating deliverables in the form of SMART goals can help break large issues down into distinct steps which will help you show return on investment.
    
3. Show your passion by putting some skin in the game.
   With two members of the team just graduating from college and two others looking forward to their dwindling summer days as students, they would normally be getting jobs, taking trips or just finding a pool nearby. But they are sacrificing all of that to spend 12 hours a day writing code without pay. While I’m not advocating slave labor at nonprofits, short-term campaigns where you’re rolling up your sleeves and making sacrifices of sleep, food or pay for the common good, often make people want to get behind you and cheer you on.
    
4. Offer a chance to participate.
   The fundraising levels (from $5-$2,000) that the Diaspora team created would make any marketing department proud. And the fact that the vast majority of backers so far have given less than $50 each shows that lots of small-dollar donors want to give a little and be a part of something meaningful. The largest two levels (which are both sold out) provide the extra perk of giving sponsors the ability to check in on Diaspora's daily progress on the build server. Aside from the thoughtfully tailored levels of financial support, they have committed to release their code as free software at the end of the summer so anyone can use it, build on it and make it better. This transparency and willingness to let others participate and take some control are characteristics people like to see in nonprofit projects as well.

As with many new technologies and developments, social media is being used in surprising and unintended ways to analyze and reveal unexpected data and trends. Twitter, Facebook and Google tools have already been used for market research, sales predictions and targeted advertising. Twitter, for example, has shown remarkable accuracy at forecasting box office success, even more accuracy than the currently used (and comparably complex) Hollywood Stock Exchange method. Now credit card companies are reportedly using foursquare and other location sharing platforms to predict divorce, and therefore financial troubles, by analyzing the places people are checking in frequently - the logic being that Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond check-ins demonstrate stability in a way that frequent late night bar check-ins do not.

While it seems a bit creepy to think about companies analyzing where we go and what we tweet about, you have to admit it's also pretty resourceful. As someone who thinks that nonprofits should often operate a lot more like for-profit companies, I wonder if there's an opportunity to use this strategy for good. What if nonprofits could use public data from social networking sites like Twitter and foursquare to predict which demographics and individuals are likely to be interested in their organization or cause?

The places people visit and the subjects they post about on social networks might provide clues about whether they are likely to donate or volunteer before they are asked - or even inform what type of appeal might work best. It might take extra work or expense up front, but it could save time and money in the long run by allowing development teams to concentrate their resources on the people who are most likely to respond. While each nonprofit might not have the capacity to pour over Twitter data, it could be an interesting third party business opportunity.

And once consumers are able to get used to the fact that people are checking up on their social media posts, this strategy could benefit them as well. Instead of sifting through all kinds of volunteer opportunities and donation asks from organizations that don't particularly inspire me, I wouldn't mind receiving targeted solicitations only from nonprofits that have some reason to believe I would be interested in getting involved in their work.

Is this social media research in the future of nonprofit development and recruitment? Is it an invasion of privacy or just smart? How would you respond if you knew you were being targeted by a nonprofit because of your tweets and check-ins?

Today’s guest blogger, Derrick Feldman, is CEO of Achieve where he provides guidance to organizations to help them develop new fundraising strategies. Today, Derrick continues the conversation we began last week on the importance of engaging younger donors and why fundraising isn’t just about raising money.

A personal connection to the mission

Typically, young donors are involved in organizations related to causes or issues by which they or someone close to them have been personally affected. If a woman fights cancer, she might enlist in a cancer-related organization. If a man loves to read, he might volunteer to battle illiteracy. If a young family has overcome poverty, they might volunteer at a food bank. Once connected to an organization, these people want to help shape the direction or have the opportunity to directly assist someone served by the organization.

Also don’t assume that, once you’ve made your connections, you can stop there. You must – as you would with any donor – continue to develop the relationship. Cultivate and visit with young donors to show how you admire their passion and how they can affect the work of the organization. Give them opportunities to rub shoulders with more veteran donors and community leaders. Listen to their ideas and make them feel connected to the mission. Offer them private meet-and-greets with board members before board activities, invite them to work with staff to shape a strategic plan, etc.

Earlier today I tuned in (via my laptop, of course) as marketing consultants Chris Garrett and John Haydon shared tips with nonprofits on how to best navigate social media – namely Twitter, Facebook, and the wild world of blogs. Not surprisingly, the number one question from online participants was where/how do I get started, and when will it pay off?  Read more »

Sure, the economy may have you down, and fundraising for anything these days may seem like a daunting task, but don't forget to have a little fun with it. Earlier this month, my husband's colleague, a self-proclaimed "Mo Bro" (a.k.a. Charlie), sent around an email to friends and family, asking for their support as he set off to grow a little facial hair.

Why you might ask?  Because the month formerly known as November has turned into...you guessed it, "Mo-vember" for thousands of men across the country and around the world.  But it's not all fun and games. So why the extreme behavior? Read more »